A typical North American Christmas celebration is filled with lights, food, family gatherings, ugly Christmas sweaters, gift exchanges and a variety of other rituals.

In southern Manitoba, a kaleidoscope of cultures is enriching the annual festivities.

beginning where Virgin Mary and Joseph start going on their way to have baby Jesus, right? Every week there's a party or a posadas in the next family’s home. They carry around baby Jesus with them and then it goes to the next home and then to the next home. Everybody has a Manger and an altar that they make where this is celebrated.”

Food also makes a big appearance on her home country’s Christmas table.

“There's always a soup. I mean the tamales are just, they're just so good!”

This dish is made by wrapping dumplings (with a variety of fillings) in corn husks or banana leaves, and then slowly steamed to perfection.

“Our desserts are not like cakes or pies. We have different kinds of desserts, which is like our sweet bread. Then we have like salads, like a fruit salad, beet salad – oh, I love the beet salad! It has beets, oranges, it has peanuts in it - anything that comes in with the colors and everything. Yeah makes it Christmasy.”

While Christmas trees have become more popular recently, Rodriguez says it’s more common to decorate with a plant that’s indigenous to Mexico – the poinsettia.

Meantime, Christmas in India comes with warmer weather than Manitoba – and no snow.

Prabhjot Singh is a newer resident of southern Manitoba who grew up in the state of Punjab in India. He remembers Christmas as a young boy.

“When I was in school we used to decorate our classroom. Me and my classmates used to do some paintings and charts of Christmas trees and lot of other things. We also used to give out handmade greeting Christmas cards to our close friends in school and also to the teachers.”

Growing up, he remembers spending time with his family at Christmas making a lot of food.

“Elders in the family used to stick to the typical Punjabi dinner of a chapati and curry, but the youngsters like me and my siblings like to have some Punjabi snacks such as samosas and pakodas.”

Now in his second winter in Manitoba, Prabhjot says he enjoys the snow and how streets and houses are decorated with lights.

As for Christmas in Brazil, it occurs during the summer.

While Brazilians share many Christian values with North Americans, their Christmas celebrations are lit up in a unique way.

Marcos Gaubert grew up on the Brazilian city/island of Florianópolis.

“Brazilian people like a lot of fireworks, so we use them in every celebration - New Year's Eve, Christmas, carnivals, everything. Something super interesting about the fireworks, typically they last for 30 or 45 minutes as a show. It's really big! Typically they they put some boats in the sea, so we have like seven or eight big boats there. A lot of fireworks in those boats. That’s the way that they put the show - it's in the middle of the ocean, so it's awesome! Beautiful to see!”

The North American Christmas often comes with bonuses or gifts from employers.

Gaubert says in his home country, workers receive an extra pay cheque in December.

“We call that the “third salary”. It's another salary actually. If you have 12 payments at, let's suppose a thousand bucks, you receive a thousand bucks more at the end of the year. So it's pretty good and helpful for families to be able to provide a nice Christmas party for the families and stuff like that, because it's literally another salary early in December.”

 

Gaubert’s favorite food at Christmas is a special cut of beef called picanha. “It’s amazing!”

He says Santa Claus is also a part of Brazil’s Christmas culture, right down to his wintry clothing.